Duties and responsibilities first. After suffering all week with a heavy cold ( Man cold......much more deadly than the "other" type which affects females mildly) I/we decided to get the house ready for Christmas.This means I have to scramble around the loft space looking for unlabelled boxes of tree's, decorations etc. Fortunately last year at tidy away time I was rather disabled ( Broken Leg )
so they were just pushed into the hatch and were easy to retrieve.
I set to with a front room spring clean. The rest of the family pottered around attempting lots but accomplishing nutin'. Luchtime over I set too an the MG.
Yes I am actually going to drop the dashboard in order to get at those pesky frozen and spinning bolts holding the front wing solid.
Easy Peasey removing the gearstick gaiter. Not so untangling the wires for the overdrive and removing what must be 25 year-old Insulation tape............Not looking good methinks.
Bugger..........someone has soldered the wired together hence the tape.
Looks like Bodget & Scarper did work on this car sometime, hope it wasn't often, or a sign of things to come. Centre armrest removed to driveway. NOTE armrest well contains a small shops-worth of misc screws, fuses, bulbs etc.. all used/abused. Must keep them though, who knows where they came from. I must add at this point It was around 3pm and getting a little dark and cold to add to the already very damp driveway.

Removed the centre console after labelling the wires from the heater controls. I even had a box in which to put all the things in.
Then I noticed the rain. Absolutely P****ng down. And my feet and bottom half was also wet through.
NO......................................NO...........................The box and more Importantly the newly found "Kamasa" tools were wet through. The "dry cover" wet. The wet cover very wet and me wazzed off.

Fast paced was the next operation. Box in car. Tools into kitchen. Dry cover on. wet cover on.
Elastic thingies with hooks on on. Man In house very wet.

I decided to do the sensible thing and change clothes then settle down to a dark room lit by a warm fire and listen to the footy results ( Big match for me. Owls v Blades )

Then it all went wrong.

I'm putting the tree up in the room said wifey. Other room looks like an explosion at WH Smiths.
Bedroom same.
Time for some macho posturing.......................not a chance, guilt of happy families putting up the tree and smiling, Christmas records playing, chocolate being passed round.
Yes you can be happy when you think your world is crap.........thank heavens for marriage.

So it did end happily, almost. Room dark and fire lit + tree lights. Me on sofa Horizontal with remote control and quiet peace.

Except my team lost 1-0.

Never mind Toto, well always have Kansas.

1. A new year dawns and time for some light reflection.
   
   Yes its still raining each Saturday and not a jot has been done to the poor old MG.
   All she can do is flap her makeshift polythene cover listlessly in the wind.
   I can't even be bothered to re-tie down the noisy thing. I just peer at her each morning and pray for summer and cash.
   The new year started like the old one finished, seamless and without fuss.
   I fact I think I was first into bed before the missus, and asleep and snoring soundly before the appointed hour.
   Made me laugh later on though recalling last new years eve to wifey.
   We had ma- in- law staying overnight.
   A fine woman and in full control of all her marbles. But..................
   of all the towns etc. She decides that at 10.30 her waterworks are not functioning as they should. By 11.15 it was time for immediate action so off goes wifey an said ma-in law to local clinic/casualty..............credit to our good old NHS. They had her sorted and back ensconced in front of TV by 11.45.
   I was Incumbent on sofa with leg in plaster, so that's a fair excuse. Besides, I needed lots of whisky to dull my pain. One visit up 15 steps with leg in full cast is enough to make anyone grumpy.
   Work seems to have taken priority since the hols with my area almost doubling.... not the pay though. Still, I imagine I'll get more nights away and see a lot more of this fair and sceptered Isle.
   I have seen more cardboard boxes though this year already!